Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues

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During this film, the narrator, Nina, is reading the book of the Ramayana. In the story, Rama's father exiles Rama from the kingdom, along with Lakshmana and Sita. The story mainly follows Sita's journey. Ravana seduces Sita using a golden deer to distract her away from Rama and the proceeds to steal her in his chariot. Sita leaves behind jewelry to leave a trail for Rama. Rama then meets Hanuman and they come to the conclusion to save Sita together. Hanuman goes to scope out the Kingdom of Ravana in Sri Lanka and finds Sita singing the blues. Sita does not want to be saved by anyone besides Rama so Hanuman goes back to retrieve him, however, he gets set on fire. Hanuman gets saved by having the fire not burn him and sets the town on fire. Rama comes to rescue Sita however there is tension between the two. Rama does not trust Sita after she stayed in another man’s house. The town is not happy with Sita and it begins to ruin Rama’s reputation. Rama does not want to have a bad reputation as a King so he sends Lakshmana to exile Sita. During this time, Sita tells Rama that she is pregnant and continually tries to prove her pureness. While she is exiled, Valmiki takes Sita in and Sita gives birth to two sons. Valmiki teaches them the songs of Rama and Rama hears these songs and figures out that those are coming from his sons. They meet, and Rama begs for Sita back. She then says her final words to Rama and passes away with Rama passing away shortly after.



The story retells the Ramayana story, however there are three narrators from India who all have different viewpoints of what happened throughout the story. I thought this was a cool idea because it gives differing perspectives on what the story means and what occurred. Nina, the narrator, also has a storyline in this video. She goes to India to follow her boyfriend, then goes back to New York for her job, when her boyfriend decides to break up with her. I thought including her storyline made the narrative more personal and more modern, but also included a nice break from the Ramayana story.


Bibliography:
Author: Nina Paley
Title: Sita Sings the Blues
Link: Link to story